Outcasts of the Stars: Exile
by Aviiarii
Summary: A band of rogues flees the original lake clans in order to make a new home for themselves in a deep wood.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Rain fell softly in the Windclan camp, and soft breaths were heard as most of the clanmates dozed off. It was moonhigh, a few days after the Gathering. A ginger she-cat slid out from her wooly den as quietly as possible. She knew she couldn't wake the others if her plan was to be successful.

Sliding through the abandoned camp entrance, she made her way towards the lake. Wind buffeted her fur as she ran for the island that the clans would gather at. As she neared, what looked to be a patrol of warriors watched her from the log-bridge.

"Wow, Onestar knew what he was doing naming you Quickwind!" A dark tabby sneered. A golden-furred she cat shot him a glare. "We'd thought you'd forgotten- you'dve been left behind." She chided.

"Sorry Gorsethorn," she adressed the Thunderclan warrior, "I overslept is all." "Well, are we ready to go or what?" A black tom asked. The tabby nodded his head in agreement. The cats all turned to head towards the edge of clan territory, tonight is the night that they leave!

At gatherings, the group would often find each other talking about how unfair and overrated clan life was, but they were all scared to leave for a better life all alone. During their last gathering in clan territory, they came up with a plan to take action on their desires. They had all agreed to meet by the island and travel far out of territory boundaries in hopes of forming a new clan.

Quickwind passed the time reflecting on the events that led them all to the last remnants of the Windclan border markers. There was a hill just up ahead, and as they all staggered to the top, they looked back for one last sour goodbye.

The patrol was far out of clan territory reach now, and approaching a river with a lush forest just on the other side of it. I'm not the most fond of trees, but that seems promising enough Quickwind tried to convince herself. She was prepared for everything but a landscape change. She knew she would have to rely on Gorsethorn to teach her to hunt in an area like that, but she would make do.

After taking a rest after the moon's long trek, the patrol took a tour around the outskirts and found a perfect place to set up a temporary camp. Quickwind felt the russle of a small breeze in her fur as she saw a starry cat appear. Welcome home, they whispered, this is where you are meant to be. I will always light your path, no matter how far you go...


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The four cats gathered at the middle of a clearing they found. "This sounds really mousebrained, but I don't know all of your names yet..." The tabby trailed off. "Well we should probably introduce ourselves. I'll go first, I'm Starlingfur." A black tom announced. "I'm Branchtail." The tabby flicked his tail, signaling someone else to go. "Well I'm Gorsethorn, and this is Quickwind." The golden she cat nodded to the cat next to her.

"You know each other then?" Branchtail asked. "Yes, we've seen eachother at gatherings." Quickwind spoke calmly. "Oh don't be such a liar, I think it's obvious we're at least friends!" Gorsethorn purred. Quickwind looked away in embarrassment and tried to change the subject by suggesting a hunt to explore the new territory.

Each cat found plenty of prey to eat and formed a fresh kill pile in the clearing. The next best thing to do would probably be finding spots to form dens and start to make this into a proper camp, Quickwind thought. She shared her idea with her new clanmates and they agreed. "Let's split up and explore the camp," Branchtail suggested. "Quickwind, check the rock edge, Gorsethorn, you can check the bushes, and Starlingfur, go and check the trees."

So confident already, does he think he'll be clan leader? Quickwind bounded to the looming cliff face at the northernmost edge of the camp. It was large, with a lot of cave entrances dappling the otherwise smooth rock. Maybe those caves can make good dens... She thought passively. As she jumped up to the edge of the lowest entrance, a snake met her with a hiss of anger. She fell backwards but got a grip on the edge of the rock.

After a few moments of shock, she yowled. Gorsethorn heard her and ran to the rock. She jumped up to see what happened before Quickwind could warn her. She saw the snake and instinctively slashed at it with her front claws. The snake backed away into the furthest reaches of the cave. "That's right! Run you mangy creature!" Gorsethorn yowled after it.

She turned her attention once again to Quickwind, who couldn't get enough of a grip to crawl back up. She let out a rumbling purr at the sight before hauling her clanmate back into the cave. "You alright?" She asked. "Yeah, I just wasn't expecting to see that though." Quickwind gave herself a few embarrassed licks of her chest fur. "Thanks for getting me up, I thought the caves would be alright but on second thought, I don't think anyone would like snakes in their bedding."

As the two she cats met with Branchtail to give their report, Starlingfur finished checking out the trees. "Bad luck." Branchtail grimaced at the thought of snakes. "Did you finish checking the bushes, Gorsethorn?" "Yes, they aren't the best for shelter but we could use them as a last resort." Starlingfur joined the three and gave the knews of just how well the trees would make for shelter. "We could use the holes and gaps in the trunk to sleep in if we put bedding in there, and they double as decent hiding spots should dangerous animals come strolling into camp."

"Well now that the dens are settled, we should probably think of a leader and a name for ourselves, otherwise we aren't really a true clan." Branchtail insisted. "Yeah, but even then four cats doesn't really make a clan either." Gorsethorn retorted. "Besides, which of us should be leader? We don't know if Starclan is even this far away from the other clans." Starlingfur pointed out. They didn't see the Starclan cat earlier? Weird. Quickwind shifted her paws uneasily at the thought of oncoming hostility from the other cats. After all, the others do look eager to become leaders one day, I don't want to get on their bad side...

"Well..." She started, "A Starclan cat visited me when we arrived, and said that this is our rightful home. Maybe we can find some way to contact them and have them choose." "Sounds reasonable. Good thinking Quickwind." Gorsethorn mewed. "How do you think we could get Starclan's attention? Is there somewhere like the Moonpool here maybe?" Starlingfur inquired. "If there is then we just have to explore the territory to find it!" Branchtail replied decisively. Then I suppose we should get to it.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

All four clanmates pushed through the thorn bushes at the edge of camp. They were greeted by lush ferns and trees that separated the camp from a secluded meadow. Oh how wonderful! If we claim this as our territory then I can still go out without the trees bothering me all the time... They skirted the meadow and climbed over piles of massive stone. On their way the forest was alive with sounds that accompanied the search like music.

Starlingfur began to lag behind the group. "What? Tired already?" Branchtail mewed. "N-no I, my paw, I'm losing feeling in it!" Gorsethorn rushed over to take a look. "Oh. Don't worry, theres just a thorn that's really deep."

She crouched down and grabbed the thorn with her teeth, grimacing as blood gushed out from his paw as it was removed. "Ow! Did you have to be so rough?" "Sorry. You might want to stay off that paw for a while."

The patrol pushed on, through bushes and rough undergrowth. Eventually, Quickwind saw something interesting. "Hey look, that tree over there is huge!" The others gasped in awe as they saw said tree, looming far above the others in the distance. "That looks like it could be a special place, lets go head for it." Branchtail bounded to the head of the patrol and ran ahead, not waiting for the other cats to catch up.

When they arrived, they were greeted by what looked like a massive cave at the base of the tree. "I call dibs on getting in there first!" Starlingfur mewed playfully. He struggled with his injured paw but managed to scramble up into the cavern entrance. The others joined him, and took the first steps in.

At the base of the hole was a large puddle, surrounded by glowing moss. It was dark, but the moss lit the area just enough for the cats to see what was happening. "Do you think this is the place?" Starlingfur whispered. Gorsethorn flicked her tail, "Looks pretty sacred to me." Branchtail scored his claws on the wooden floor impatiently. "Well how do you suppose we talk to Starclan? Do we splash around in the puddle?" Quickwind nudged him, "Don't be silly. Maybe we should try what the cats did at the moonpool back home, but leave out the drinking of the water since that puddle seems awfully small..."

Gorsethorn was the first to try it, touching her muzzle to the puddle and closing her eyes. Everyone sat there, frozen in place in anticipation of what might happen. This went on for a few heartbeats until Gorsethorn sat up, frustrated. "Did something bad happen?" Quickwind asked. "Ugh, nothing happened at all! What do we do now?" Each cat gave unsure glances to one another, until Branchtail spoke up.

"Maybe it only works at night? I used to be friends with a clanmate of mine who occasionally was visited by dead cats, and he told me that they left when he woke up." "You may have a point there, so why don't we try waiting until moonhigh?" Starlingfur mewed. "Sounds good to me, I guess" Gorsethorn replied crossly.

"It's still early in the day, so we could probably spend time marking where we want the edges of our territory to be." Quickwind suggested. The other cats mewed agreement, and they left the cavern. They decided that including the Glowing Tree in their territory wouldn't be smart, because of how long of a trek that would take. They ventured out as a patrol until they once again hit the rock pile. Branchtail set the first markings, right around the edges of the pile, and continuing on to the surrounding trees.

Each cat participated until their own territory was thurally marked. They crossed back over the scent line and headed for the trees as the sun set behind them. By the time they reached the Glowing Tree, it was just before moonhigh. The cats made their way into the cavern again, hopes rising as the moss around the puddle grew brighter with every heartbeat. As each cat took their place, the moon's light traveled to the puddle surface from a hole in the roof, illuminating the puddle in a spectacle of true beauty.


End file.
